Like many I read with great interest the article on Media News Group (the owner of the Lowell Sun and many other newspapers) posted on richardhowe.com. I like many have heard stories that the newspaper’s management and ownership don’t like blogs or bloggers.

I also appreciate the few emails encouraging me to be careful and admit to laughing at the one who wished the SUN/Media News would come after me to “put me in my place.”

Not only do I admit to not being a great writer, I’ll admit to not being a very good Blogger in the fact that I’ve never really explored the whole concept / rules/ acceptable reproduction of material issues involved in Blogging. Call me irresponsible, naïve or stupid but to be honest, I post what I think and link to items I feel relevant and never worried about infringement of copyright material. I do this has my hobby and my means to vent and share my opinion and to get discussion going.

I also admit that I have a bias in the fact that I support the SUN and like having a regional newspaper that covers the area and important news. In the year plus I have been blogging I have had my disagreements with some of the editors positions but respect his right to voice (or print) his position and generally have tried to acknowledge the work of what I consider some pretty good reporters in Jenn Myers, Lyle Moran, Erin Smith, Rob Mills, Chris Scott, Lisa Redmond and others. Mr. Campanini has even been kind enough to respond to some questions and allowed me to do a Post with his response.

In that time not once has the SUN directly or indirectly asked me to stop linking or posting anything. Nor have I heard anything negative directed towards this BLOG by anyone connected with the Sun. I may not always be nice to the Editor or to Mr. Kendall Wallace but I do try and be fair and acknowledge what the Sun provides, important Local news, local features, Obituaries and a political column that gets people talking.

I also seem to be one of the bloggers that doesn’t have a personal dislike for the Editor or Media News Group. Dick has no problem expressing his issue with the Sun and Lynne went so far has to call for a boycott and start a petition to fire Mr. Campanini. I have no personal axe to grind and have met Mr. Campanini only once for about 20 seconds. I may disagree with him on issues but he has not attacked me or done anything to get me to hate him or the Sun. Publisher/President Mark O’Neil has responded to my email request even if it was to say Not at This time when I requested to do a 5 question Post. When I met Kendall Wallace last year at a debate he was very pleasant to speak with.

That being said after reading Dick’s post it made me concerned that I may be violating someone’s copyrighted material or infringing upon someone’s work so I looked at the Sun’s website and under the Information button at the bottom of page 1 found in About US under the Legal header there is a terms of service item that in part reads:

You may establish a hypertext link to this Service so long as the link does not state or imply any sponsorship of your site by Lowell Sun or LowellSun.com. However, you may not, without the prior written permission of LowellSun.com, frame any of the content of the Service, or incorporate into another website or other service any material, content or intellectual property belonging to LowellSun.com, its parent or affiliate companies or their licensors. License to LowellSun.com

After reading that I wanted to make sure that I was not in violation and requested written permission from Media News Group / The Sun to continue to be able to post links and promote the paper.

People may say I am sucking up but I grew up with the Lowell Sun, Ch. 6 News , WCAP and WLLH all local media outlets. Today we are down to 1 local radio station WCAP – 1 Regional Paper (The Sun) and City Life that cover Lowell stories and I think they are important to keep.

Live and Local media be it WCAP/ City Life or the Sun provide Lowell residents and former Lowell residents a way to stay connected and informed. In this day of instant national and state news, having these local outlets is still a good thing for a city the size of Lowell.

I received the following response to my inquiry from Media News Group and Thank them and I am grateful that I will be able to continue to link and promote our local newspaper and hope to be able to do that for a long time:

First, we absolutely want you to link to our stories and we appreciate that you do. We do ask that you not reproduce the entire story, but instead, run the headline and a summary of the story or the first paragraph or two, and then add the link to our newspaper site with the statement “Read more at the Lowell Sun” and then the link. If you use our content in this way, it doesn’t violate our copyright.

Missy Miller
Sr. Vice President Human Resources
and Labor Relations

Thank You for your Service

On the School Committee Agenda I posted yesterday I noted this item listed under Communications.

Letter of resignation from June M. Sweet, Recording Secretary to the School Committee

I have never met June but have seen her at her post for many years and have read her minutes many times over the last year. Being the recording secretary for the Lowell School Committee isn’t a glamorous nor high paying job. It;s like being the Administrative Assistant to the City Manager, a lot of work and little recognition.

I knew June has done this job for many years and now after finding out it has been over 30 years and June is stepping down and I wanted to publicly acknowledge her and Thank her for her years of service to the City of Lowell and the Lowell Public Schools.

Current Supt. Chris Scott offered the following backroun on June: June has been the recording secretary for the School Committee for over 30 years and was also one of the secretaries to former Superintendent of Schools Henry Mroz.

During the day, she often substituted and was a paraprofessional in our schools. It is my understanding that she is presently completing her Masters. June’s lively and friendly approach always “lit up” the Council Chambers.

Supt Chris Scott also wanted to pass along this message:Thank you June for your many years of service to Lowell Public Schools – we wish you all the best

Current School Committee member Alison Laraba offered her thoughts on June’s retirement :

“ Having only worked with her for a short time I do not have the history with June that the other committee members do. I do know that June works a full time job in addition to her recording duties and is also working on her teaching certification so she is one very busy lady! She takes pride (as she should) in her knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order and as the new kid on the committee that has not committed the Rules to memory yet I am appreciative of that knowledge.”